News > NASA Just Launched a Spacecraft That Will Crash Into an Asteroid

NASA Just Launched a Spacecraft That Will Crash Into an Asteroid

NASA on Wednesday launched a spacecraft with one simple mission: Smash into an asteroid at 15,000 miles per hour. The mission, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, left Earth to test whether slamming a spacecraft into an asteroid can nudge it into a different trajectory. 

Results from the test, if successful, will come in handy if NASA and other space agencies ever need to deflect an asteroid to save Earth and avert a catastrophic impact.